In mid-May, Charter closed the acquisitions of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. The two transactions created an industry titan with more than 25 million customers across 41 U.S. states. That's huge in an industry where economies of scale play a huge role in network operations and negotiations over content licenses.

The new Charter is among the three largest TV broadcasting systems in America, and a significant force in the market for broadband internet services as well.

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Now what

If the 2016 surge rested purely on Charter's growth by acquisition, the company must now defend its massive valuation by making the most of its opportunities. That means holding on to a skeptical customer base from the Time Warner Cable and Bright House camps, and maybe even adding subscribers in spite of the consumer trend toward cord-cutting.

That's no easy task, and Charter has indeed been losing video subscribers in the post-merger market. Like the rest of the traditional cable TV industry, this company is becoming less of a media broadcaster and more of a pipeline to online services. That's a fine business model, but Charter must adjust to this new reality.

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